yellowbird

I agree with you on both counts. But you can't exactly squash other people's cultures out though, and their native tongues, so perhaps if there was one main language taught as a secondary tongue to everyone things would maybe work out better? Then people could still speak freely in their own language as well as the common one...

Right.. Hm, I'm not even sure why I want to learn it. I think it just sounds lovely, and in the summertime where I live there are a lot of people from Russia and other Slavic-speaking countries. I'm not even sure if I would talk to them, but I think it would be beneficial to know a language that could facilitate learning other similar tongues, you know?

I do! When I catch myself doing this too often, I try to insert a "haha" instead or come up with a witty response besides just implying that the person's comment amused me. x]

Not only are they essential, but I think they are beautiful as well. ^^

Same here, so I'm struggling with whether or not I'd like to learn Russian or a different language in addition to Spanish.

Thanks for the info! I have my keyboard set to international and that has been extremely helpful to me, but I didn't know that these special punctuation marks were available there as well!

How did she teach you the alphabet, if you don't mind my asking? Just as children who are native English speakers learn the alphabet?

I'm kind of glad you mentioned Russian, because I think I'd like to learn it. English is my native tongue so I'm looking to improve my English grammar and vocabulary and also to learn a few other languages. What is your reasoning for Russian being an important language to learn? Many people are saying Mandarin Chinese, and I've kind of thought about it, but learning Hindu or similar languages hadn't really crossed my mind--I'll have to look into it!

That's kind of what I'm hoping for; I would maybe like to learn Polish sometime in the future. Thanks for the inspirational thought

So for what reason would you decide to use stressed ownership over regular? I'm sorry, I'm just struggling a bit over this about the difference between regular words used for ownership and stressed form...

That's neat, I dated a guy in high school whose family spoke mostly Polish, and that was a source of motivation for me to maybe learn someday. We're not together any longer, but I think I still might be interested in the language. Have you mastered the alphabet yet? How long have you been trying to learn?

What does an upside down question mark and exclamation point necessarily mean? Is it grammatically incorrect to not use them?

When should you used stressed ownership words such as suyo, tuyo, mio, etc.?

I'm having a hard time differentiating between these two. If anyone could provide some examples in English and Spanish as well I would very much appreciate it; I believe the only way I'm ever going to learn the difference is by seeing the comparisons in actual sentences. Also, what would you do in a situation like this sentence in Spanish: He gave the gift to her.

Quiero aprender español de mexico o españa, pero cualquier dialecto es bien!

See, that's where I'm at right now. I have many languages I'd like to learn, but not all of them are practical for me because some of them might not be spoken by others around me. How will I practice? What good use will I put this knowledge to? Russian does sound beautiful though, I agree, and I'm interested because I know there are many Slavic languages that are similar that might be easier for me to learn after I nail Russian such as Polish.

For me, I know I have hit am impressive level of fluency when I begin to think in the language, and responding to people in that tongue is smooth and almost immediate.

I agree! >.<

Well, joining this forum has rustled up my old dreams of becoming poly-lingual. >.< I have so many ambitions for which languages I'd like to learn, but mastering a tongue to the point of fluency is not easy. It takes time and work, so I must prioritize. which languages do you feel would be the most beneficial to learn and why? Spanish is a definite for me, so I know that one.

Rosetta Stone is a program that uses pictures that you match with vocabulary words and phrases so that the language clicks more quickly in your mind. Some people are visual learners, and this helps them very much when it comes to learning a language relatively quickly.

Thanks for the links! It would appear that really the only easy way to learn these would be to memorize the proper differences and uses for each word...

My parents bought Muzzy too! It was for the Spanish version though, and I think being exposed to the pronunciations and certain words really helped me in high school when Spanish or French were required courses, and my pronunciation and learning speed were both higher than average. I went on to college with Spanish as my major. Since then I have had to stop schooling for financial reasons, but I'm trying to keep me level of fluency the same and learn even more these days. I have a two month old son that I would love to teach Spanish as he is growing, so I plan on exposing him to the sounds of the language now while he is little and teaching him words, phrases, etc. Worst comes to worst, he will still know the basics, as you do in German!

This is the opposite situation and not completely related, but it makes me laugh. ^^ http://quicklol.com/plenty-more-fish-in-the-sea/

Was there a practical use for you to learn it, and what was it? I've been toying with the idea of learning but I'm not sure whether or not I would be able to utilize it.

You know what, thank you all very much for the websites and information on this--this is exactly what I was looking for!